Venezuela's fortunes have largely traced the price of oil from a relative bonanza as recently as last year, when crude went for more than $140 a barrel, to the current reality of rising poverty, crime and food shortages as the oil price plummeted to about $40.

Venezuela threatened Wednesday to expel a U.S. Embassy official for allegedly conspiring to defeat a referendum championed by President Hugo Chavez, accusing the diplomat of plotting to sway public opinion.

Venezuelan police fired tear gas and plastic bullets Monday into a crowd of thousands protesting a decision by President Hugo Chavez that forced a television station critical of his leftist government off the air.